Aspartame
by Strike To Incinerate
Summary: Vanessa and Maxima Yes, it's fluff. And very pointless. Two old friends reunite and are faced with a choice fight each other in the XI tournament for a chance at Ash Crimson, or blow it off for ice cream?


_Author's Note: Okay, I was talking to my friend Maria, and a really good idea for a KOF pairing came to me. What was it? Maxima and Vanessa. HEY. I know, I should be writing the sequel to 'B&E' or some naughty lemons, as I've been encouraged to do, but I wanted to write this._

_Please, please don't complain about the pairing. I think they'd be cute together. And there is very very slight hinting towards it (Maxima considers her a kindred spirit, and they both hate indecisive people)._

_Disclaimer: Nya, I don't own KOF or anything. Yay for SNK. All I own is my great love for KOF and most of the characters. I also own all of the fanfiction prominently featuring Vanessa on this site. HA._

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**Aspartame.**

**A Vanessa/Maxima short-story by Strike To Incinerate.**

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It was a rather hot afternoon in Southtown, as Blue Mary well knew it could reach 90 or higher in the summer, and the Agents Team was sitting under the shade of a tree in the public park. Well, Vanessa was sitting, and, having pulled off her trademark brown leather glove, was fanning herself with it. Mary was leaning against the trunk of said tree, and Ramon was standing on his hands, doing pushups, getting ready for the battle ahead.

"Aren't you sweating enough?" the redhead asked, sighing.

Mary chuckled. While the two were mercenaries, she liked them. They were amiable, unlike most other competitors in the KOF.

"Nope," Ramon replied with a grin.

_'Poor guy,'_ the blond cop thought. He seemed to like Vanessa a lot... and she liked him, too, just not in the same way.

"Who're we going to fight anyway?" Vanessa asked, looking up at their fearless and busty leader.

"I dunno," Mary replied. "They never tell me anything," she joked.

Ramon let his feet down and stood upright. With quick footwork, it seemed almost as if he were dancing in place. "Kinda rude of them to make us wait, don't you think?" he asked the two women.

"Yeah..." Vanessa said, and she, too, stood up. "I think I see them, though," she added, slipping her glove back on.

The Agents Team looked to the sidewalk about 30 meters away, and sure enough, a trio was crossing the street. One seemed to be dressed entirely in black, one in purple, and the third... well, the third guy was really big, and dressed in blue.

"Oh... Jesus, Mary, and..." Vanessa began, then broke into a run.

"Woah! 'Nessa, wait!" Mary called, breaking into a run after her. "What the hell is her problem? A little eager?" she asked Ramon.

"Um..." Ramon seemed a little uncomfortable. "We know them. Sort of."

"Sort of?" Mary questioned, stopping suddenly. "What's 'sort of'?"

Ramon looked over at Vanessa again.

"K'! Maxima!" she was waving frantically as she approached them, and all three stopped.

Kula looked from Maxima to K', and then to the strange woman running at them. "Uncle, do you know her?" she asked the cyborg.

"VANESSA?!" he managed to shout, before the boisterous redhead tackled him to the ground.

"Yes," K' said, stepping over the bodies of his best friend and the ex-NESTS mercenary. "Her name is Vanessa," he replied, continuing on towards the two blonds.

"Vanessa?" Kula looked adorably confused, staring down at the still very strange woman who was hugging her uncle tightly. No one hugged Uncle. Ever. Not even Whip, not even when Whip was being really nice.

Vanessa stopped the reunion hugging to look at Kula. "Hello!" she said, hopping off of Maxima. "Yeah, I'm Vanessa. K' never is very friendly, is he?" she asked. "OR POLITE," she said, loud enough for the heavily tanned man to hear.

Kula giggled. She liked Vanessa already. "Are you Uncle's girlfriend?" she asked.

Vanessa raised a brow, placing her hands on her hips. "Is that what he told you?" she asked, giving Maxima a sly smile.

Maxima did something rare for a man of his size; he blushed. "No!" he stammered.

"You just seemed really happy to see him! That's all," Kula replied innocently, then skipped away to see the other new people.

A short silence fell, then Vanessa asked, "Did I seem too happy to see you?" she asked.

Maxima shook his head. "No, I'm happy to see you, too," he said quickly. It wasn't often that a woman, let alone one as pretty as Vanessa, was happy to see him. The happiest Whip ever was to see him was when the sink was full of dishes.

"What are you doing here?" they both blurted out at the same time, then realized how stupid that question was.

"Oh, right..." they chorused, then laughed.

Ramon was seething, and Mary asked, "Do they do that often?"

"Act like morons?" K' clarified. "Yeah. Everytime they see each other."

Ramon wasn't sure whether to be angry that a man had just called Vanessa a moron, or that she really was acting like a moron with another man.

"Truth be told..." Maxima said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm only here because K' asked. I don't really want to fight you."

Vanessa nodded, stuffing her hands into her pocket. "Same here. I mean... Mary's paying me. I'm a freelance agent now," she said.

"WE're freelance agents now!" Ramon called, but Vanessa ignored him.

"Is he your boyfriend now?" Maxima asked.

"Jealous?" Vanessa replied, a bit too eagerly. Maxima frowned, but it was more of a pout; Maxima was too nice to really frown at people. "Nah, he's not. He's just my fanboy."

The brunette cyborg sighed. "Want to get ice cream?" he asked. "After this, I mean..."

The redhead perked up. "I've got a better idea, actually," she said, and Ramon and K' knew this probably wasn't going to be good for them. They knew what Vanessa's ideas were like; they usually involved pushing buttons, blowing up buildings, or worse, ditching them for mundane activities with Maxima, and thus, shortening their manpower by two.

"Why don't you, me, and Kula go get ice cream, while K' goes with Mary and Ramon?" she offered. "He doesn't like ice cream anyways, and neither does Ramon. K' can take my place, and they can go give Ash a slap on the wrist! Everybody wins, right?" she suggested.

Kula bounced up and down happily. "Yay! Ice cream!" she cheered.

Maxima looked to K' and Mary uneasily. He didn't want to ditch his best friend... but ice cream and hanging with Vanessa. He hadn't seen Vanessa is about four years... it wasn't like they were going to get a whole lot of oppurtunities to hang out. And her idea eliminated the whole fighting each other thing.

"But I paid for you," Mary pointed out.

"What am I, a piece of meat?" Vanessa said. "K' is better than I am. He has fire and stuff. Trust me, okay?" she said.

Mary shrugged. "Alright."

"H-hey! Vanessa?!" Ramon squeaked. She wasn't really going to leave him alone with Mary and K'... was she?

"Yeah?" Vanessa asked, flashing him a shiny white smile.

Ramon melted. "N-nevermind..." he stammered weakly.

"Good! See you later!" Vanessa said, hooking her arm through Kula's. The three of them walked, carefree, down the street towards the ice cream parlor.

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Yup, pretty retarded.

Let's leave me a review anyway. I'd like to know your thoughts on this pairing, and if I should write a sequel (which will end up being longer than this, if I do).

As for Maxima's characterization... HE IS A TEDDY BEAR. He's fluffy and nice, and I could totally see him and Vanessa being all, "OMG!!! YAAAAAY!" to each other, even if it isn't in a romantic way.

Oh, and K' doesn't get a say. Vanessa makes teh rules. xD

Just... review. Thanks. Hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
